Didn't you say that we would lose money after filming?

"Zhou Dong didn't say anything, and even retweeted Xia Yuange's post and liked it. Doesn't this prove something?"

"It's so funny, you NC fans know more than Zhou Dong himself?"

"Actually they are just following the trend. They may not understand Zhou Dong."

"Fortunately Zhou Dong is not from this era, otherwise you would have to judge his status as Tang Dynasty. After all, according to your logic, the more popular he is, the more Tang Dynasty he is!"

"Ah, yes, yes, you know more about music than the Grammys."

"It's so funny, you don't understand the ways of the world? What has the Grammy become in recent years? How much value does it have? And you're still bragging about it."

"It's starting to become valuable again, right? You're starting to yell again. Anyway, you can find an excuse to say something about anything. If Xia Yuan doesn't win an Oscar, it's because he's not good enough. Now he's nominated for a Grammy. Hey, the award is no good anymore. It's not valuable anymore. Why? You think if it's not valuable, it's not valuable, right?"

"I wonder why some people's knees are so weak. They have to kneel down anytime and anywhere. Chinese people are awesome, but they can't do that, right?"

The two sides were arguing fiercely.

But soon, some other voices appeared.

These are the reviews made by some professional music critics.

They are some music critics from external websites!
Top music critic in Europe and America!
Some people even translated their music reviews and posted them on Hanxia Internet.

Among them, the most popular one was one written by top music critic Alison.

Because the name Alison was mentioned, and it sounded like thunder even in Hanxia.

After all, this music critic's work is included in the textbooks of top music schools around the world.

His evaluation is also very simple.

"Analyzing Xia Yuan's So Far Away from a professional perspective, I think it is a subversive work of electronic music"

[Today I heard a song, that is Xia Yuan's "So Far Away". Because I am a fan of Xia Yuan, and I am also following a variety show related to him and in which he appeared.

After I heard this song, I was immediately amazed. So today I will judge this song from a professional perspective as a new modern musician.

First of all, there is no doubt that this is an electronic dance music that combines Progressive House, future bass and pop elements.

Below we will analyze from two dimensions: technical production and music theory:

The first point is the technical production analysis. The arrangement structure of the whole song is a typical EDM structure: Intro→ Verse→ Pre-Chorus→ Drop (Chorus)→ Breakdown→ Second Drop→ Outro.

I think the intro part is the most interesting part. Unlike most electronic music, it does not use high-frequency explosions to make strong emotional recommendations. Instead, it uses simple piano and string music to lay the foundation for emotions, and adds environmental sound effects such as reverberation and white noise to create a sense of space.

Drop's signature new Progressive House sound uses multiple layers of Supersaw synthesizer stacking (possibly generated through Serum or Sylenth1), sidechain compression (Sidechain) and kick drum (Kick) to create a "pulse sense", and then uses the sound of progressive house to create a futuer bass style. This is an incredibly bold attempt.

The sound design is also worth paying attention to.

The main melody has a bright high-frequency Lead tone (possibly based on FM synthesis or wavetable synthesis), and the sense of presence is enhanced through distortion (Saturation) and EQ.

Bassline is a short Pluck Bass (a short decaying sawtooth wave) that is synchronized with the kick rhythm to enhance the groove.

In terms of vocal processing, the lead and harmony vocals are wrapped in a lot of reverb and delay, creating a sense of "emptiness", which fits the "distant" theme of the lyrics. In addition, the direct cut-in of the duet and the layered sense brought by the two voices make people immersed. In terms of dynamic processing, in the Build-Up part, Xia Yuan gradually opens the high frequency through the filter automation, adds rising sound effects (Riser) and drum fill (Snare Roll) to push it towards Drop.

The Drop part suddenly cuts all low frequencies ("Bass Drop" technique), and then bursts out with the full frequency band to enhance the energy release, which is a method that has never been adopted by musicians at this stage.

The spatial sense of mixing techniques, if this was done by Xia Yuan himself, then there is no doubt that I think his attainments in electronic music are fully qualified to be on the list of top 100 DJs. Okay, in my opinion, this is a complete humiliation to him. After all, everyone knows what DJ mag is.

The vocals and pad parts use stereo expansion (Stereo Imaging), while the kick and bass remain in mono (Mono) to ensure low-frequency clarity, increase the overall listening experience, and bring better smooth transitions to the dynamic balance.

Multiband Compression is used to control mid-frequency conflicts (such as vocals and synthesizers) to create a hedge and shock your visual senses with high intensity.

Next, let’s talk about music theory analysis.

First of all, the tonality and harmony. The key of the whole song is B Minor, which gives it a melancholy and grand mood.

In the chord progression above, the first verse is Bm→ G→ D→ A*, vi-IV-IV. This is a very common pop progression, but what is unusual is that it is used in the high synthesizer of electronic music.

The chorus part is still Bm→ G→ D→ Em. Xia Yuan cleverly added Em here to enhance the tension.

In the harmony arrangement, the string pad extends the chords with long notes, and the piano uses broken chords (Arpeggio) to increase fluidity.

The melody is based on the B Minor Pentatonic scale, avoiding complex semitones and enhancing its singability.

The hook design of the chorus "So far away..." has a melody line that is "wave-shaped" (first ascending and then descending), and the rhythm syncopation creates a memorable point, which makes it have the potential to become a hit song.

The rhythm and flow of the whole song are the most praiseworthy aspects of this song.

The BPM of this song is about 128 BPM, the standard Progressive House speed. The drum set uses a four-beat bass drum (Four-on-the-floor) with a broken beat Hi-Hat (16th notes), and the Pre-Chorus adds percussion (such as conga drums) to enrich the layers.

In terms of emotional expression and production intention, the lyrics of the vocal theme revolve around "distance and desire", and the production uses reverberation and delay techniques to concretize the "sense of space".

After doing all this, Xia Yuan's energy curve, from the suppression of the Intro to the release of the Drop, conforms to the design logic of EDM's "emotional roller coaster".

In summary, Xia Yuan has balanced the commercial popularity and technicality of electronic music in this song, which can be regarded as a paradigmatic work of modern Progressive House and futuer bass music.

It can be called a model article! 】

A bunch of gushing music reviews silenced most netizens.

"Can you tell me something I can understand?"

"My head hurts!"

"It's over. Those who are studying music arrangement are already feeling sleepy. Am I not in class? Can anyone tell me if I am in class?"

"Although I can't understand music reviews, I roughly understand what it means. Anyway, it's very simple. That is, Xia Yuan is awesome, right?"

“It’s really awesome.”

"Now, Tang bastards, continue to speak up! Tell me, who is Tang!" (End of this chapter)